Is it necessary for baristas to do textual research? An article takes you to understand the difference between SCA certificate and Q-Grader certification

Is it necessary for baristas to do textual research? This is a question that almost every partner who wants to work in the coffee industry / who is already in the coffee industry will think about it. With the rapid expansion of the coffee industry in China in recent years, the demand for coffee lovers-baristas is also increasing, and various coffee training institutions have begun to appear on the market, and the scale, price and "gold content" are also uneven. Therefore, some small partners are not lucky to pay "wronged money".

Is it necessary for baristas to do textual research? Not necessarily, this can be chosen according to the actual situation of the individual, not all coffee shops require baristas to have a barista certificate. After all, the cost of taking these certificates is not low, and many certificates cannot be skipped to the next grade, with a set of 10,000 to 20,000. The cost is high, and the salary of a barista... Em, you know.

The code clerk's personal view is that no matter what level of barista certificate you take, if you do not continue your self-study, learn more / other coffee-related knowledge / technology research, or do not need it after taking the course, then you can consider the rest of the money. Of course, this is only the code clerk's personal point of view, if you think that the certificate is still necessary, then you should find qualified institutions, in general, these are relatively large-scale training institutions. The most authoritative barista certificate in the coffee industry is issued by SCA (World Fine Coffee Association). It is basically universal, and it is also the most recognized barista certificate in the world. The SCA barista certificate is divided into three levels in junior high school. The examination for junior baristas is relatively simple, and the course is based on basic theory and practical knowledge. If you have worked in a coffee shop for a certain period of time, basically do not need to take a certification course, go directly to take the SCA junior certificate. If you feel that your coffee knowledge and operation skills have reached a certain level, you can also skip the primary level and directly take the SCA Intermediate Certificate ~ SCA Intermediate Certificate can skip the primary exam, but the SCA Advanced Certificate must first obtain the Intermediate Barista Certificate.

Knowledge points add: SCA is the abbreviation of the International Fine Coffee Association, the full name Specialty Coffee Association;SCAA is the abbreviation of the American Fine Coffee Association, and the full name Specialty Coffee Association of America;SCAE is the abbreviation of the European Fine Coffee Association, the full name is Specialty Coffee Association of Europe. SCA is formed by the merger of SCAA and SCAE, so at present, there is only SCA, a global coffee association. After talking about the SCA barista certificate, let's move on to the Q-Grader certificate. Q-Grader is one of the coffee bean quality appraisers certified by the Coffee quality Institute CQI (Coffee Quality Institute) and belongs to a branch of the SCA education module. Unlike the SCA curriculum, CQI is more inclined to identify the quality of raw beans, so in addition to Q-Grader (Arabica Coffee Variety appraiser), there will be R-Grader (Robusta Coffee Variety appraiser).

Both Q-Grader and R-Grader are the most expensive certification courses with the largest number of exams in the coffee industry. If you are lucky / strong, you may be able to get an exam of 20,000 to 30,000, otherwise you will have to spend thousands more on each make-up exam. At the same time, the Q-Grader is valid for 3 years. For subjects that need to be tested for coffee correction after expiration, the certificate will be reissued only if you pass the exam. If you fail at the beginning, you will need to pay again to study, otherwise the original certificate will become invalid.

If you trade raw beans, then Q-Grader is essential. Because the certification course focuses on sensory training, it can help you better identify the quality, flavor and price of coffee beans. Or if you want to sign up as a judge of a coffee competition, such as raw beans, roasting, brewing and other competitions, the Q-Grader certificate will be one of the eligibility criteria, but you may not be able to sign up for success with a certificate, and there are other reviews. At the end of the article, I would like to answer another question most frequently asked by my friends: is the barista certificate useful? There must be! SCA barista certificate is a stepping stone. If you really can't learn coffee by yourself / if you don't know where to start, you can consider taking a SCA certification course. SCA certification courses are equivalent to enlightening teachers to let people know what to learn, while Q-Grader courses are more about sensory calibration and sensory training. But it's the same old saying, you should put what you have learned into practice! The certificate is just a piece of paper, and the golden point is really yourself, so after learning it, you should continue to improve your coffee specialty and learn more coffee knowledge. * position of this article: answer questions. Photo source: online professional coffee knowledge exchange more coffee bean information please follow the coffee workshop (Wechat official account cafe_style) more boutique coffee beans please add private Wechat Qianjie coffee, WeChat: kaixinguoguo0925